Unitary Left (''Gauche unitaire'', GU) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

that was originally faction (under the name ''Unir'' or Unite) within the Revolutionary Communist League. The party is led by Christian Picquet, a former member of the Revolutionary Communist League. The creation of the party was announced on 8 March 2009 at the founding congress of the Left Front electoral coalition ahead of the 2009 European elections. Picquet, whose opposition faction represented 3.7% at the founding congress of the

New Anticapitalist Party The New Anticapitalist Party ( , NPA ) is a far-left political party in France founded in February 2009. The party launched with 9,200 members and was intended to unify the fractured movements of the French radical Left, and attract new activ ...

, disagreed with the majority's refusal to ally with the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

-led Left Front for the European elections. As a result, Picquet's small movement integrated the Left Front and Picquet was the third candidate on the coalition's list in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

constituency. Ideologically, the party sought to unite all

democratic socialists Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-manage ...

opposed to

neo-liberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

under a common front. The GU was part of the Left Front until 2014. On 8 September 2015, the GU decided to merge into the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. This decision was taken to limit the division of the left.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 2009 establishments in France 2015 disestablishments in France Defunct political parties in France Defunct socialist parties in Europe Democratic socialist parties in Europe Far-left politics in France History of the French Communist Party Party of the European Left former member parties Political parties disestablished in 2015 Political parties established in 2009 Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Socialist parties in France